Bearings which are solely mechanical necessarily involve mechanical contact between the components, leading to well-known problems associated with friction, leading to wear and energy losses. Repulsive magnetic forces have been utilized in magnetic bearings, for example, to provide a non-contact, low-friction bearing. However, repulsive forces in general are not as strong as attractive magnetic forces with all other parameters being the same. The use of attractive magnetic forces in a bearing assembly raises a concern that the bearing assembly may become unstable in the direction of the attractive forces. In particular, there is a concern that the two magnetic components will come into contact with one another due to an increased attractive force at a particular point.